The jinx is broken. For some inexplicable reason, the first release of every year hasn't worked at the box-office. It's strange, but even film-makers were wary of releasing their films in the first week. Film people - most of them - are a superstitious lot and the last thing they would ever want is a 'wrong' release date. But the weekend numbers of NO ONE KILLED JESSICA, the first release of 2011, should change the mindset.
Besides the jinx factor, NO ONE KILLED JESSICA had two more factors going against it - the cold wave, especially in North India and the general perception that women-centric/heroine-oriented films don't work at the box-office. Also, a tiny section of the industry feels that English titles have their limitations. Besides, another section of the industry feels that films inspired by real-life episodes/biopics are a strict no-no since they lack entertainment value. How weird can people get? Hopefully, NO ONE KILLED JESSICA should silence these naysayers, who refuse to change with the changing times.
NO ONE KILLED JESSICA gathered momentum with each passing day and is maintaing well on weekdays at plexes of metros.
'N.O.K.J.' ECONOMICS
Now let's look at the economics of NO ONE KILLED JESSICA. The cost of production is approx. Rs. 9 cr, while UTV spent an additional Rs. 5 cr on P & A, which means the final cost of the film works out to approx. Rs. 14 cr. Fortunately for UTV, they have recovered the entire investment from the sale of Satellite and Music Rights of the film, besides selling Mumbai and Delhi-U.P. territories for a handsome price. The revenue generated from India theatrical + Overseas + Home Video should only add to the profits for UTV.
Now let's dissect the business of NO ONE KILLED JESSICA. The major revenue of the film has come in from multiplexes, especially from urban centres. Centres like Delhi [despite the cold wave], Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore specifically have performed the best and have contributed a large chunk of the revenue. Sure, NO ONE KILLED JESSICA is a multiplex film and has therefore performed the best at plexes, but let's not forget that 75% of the total revenue is generated from plexes these days [on a film like this]. I expect the Week 1 to end at approx. Rs. 20 cr + nett, which means UTV should have a share of approx. Rs. 10.5 cr to Rs. 11 cr at the end of Week 1 from India alone. Good, good!
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The other two releases, IMPATIENT VIVEK and VIKALP, have gone completely unnoticed at the box-office. They sank on Day 1 itself.
